Inside The California Gurl

Well, that's it! I've completed my Katy Perry California Gurl outfit! Just got to see if I've got the guts to wear it out now! This post will have pics of the process and up close and personal ones to show the detail.

This is how the corset looked before I worked on it. One of the cheapest on ebay which is always good!



corset before I start work on it



Then I cut out candy cane shapes from pink stripe fabric (you could use red, I just love pink) and covered the pink stripes in pink glitter.



The Beginning

Then I printed out some images of sweets, lollipops and unicorns onto printable fabric and glued onto the corset. I then painted glue over the top to keep from running if it rains (probably in England) or spill my drink (also very likely) 



Before the sparkles!





Let the sparkling commence!!



So now all I need is the Katy Perry California Gurl loveheart headband! Luckily I already make those anyway and they're really easy to make and great to add to a fancy dress outfit!

Cut a loveheart out of card or cardboard, as long as it's quite thick and not too bendy. Cut a hole in the middle and basically all you need to do is get some strips of net and thread it through the hole and around the loveheart. You can do multi coloured, two colours or just a block colour. Best to leave any birds in the cage as they don't help the process! Once you've come to the end of your piece of net tie it in a knot onto what will be the 'back' of your love heart. You can always cover the knots up later



Rocco likes to help out



If you're doing a multi coloured one sometimes the colours might not look great together half way through but keep going, once you've got all your colours added it will come together! It can be pretty slow going the first time but you'll get the hang of it. You can add as many layers as you like, there's no wrong way of doing this.

And voila, that's your heart! Slide a headband down the side of some of your strips, glue it in place so it doesn't wobble and there you have your very own Katy Perry Califronia Gurl headband!



Katy Perry Headband



California Gurl

I've decided to start a blog with the Tutu Factory where people can see what goes on inside the Tutu Factory as well new ideas we might be working on, how we create some of our tutus, the entire process as well as some of my DIY fashion and costumes that I make for myself that I haven't put onto the Tutu Factory!

Now, I'm always dressing up. My wardrobe has more fancy dress than normal clothes but I just love it. I love the whole thinking of what to be and deciding how I'm going to do it and I go all out and love all the little details. Like having themed nails and shoes to match and things like that! My friends are getting sick of dressing up but I don't think I'll ever grow out of it!

So anyway, I've always wanted to make Katy Perry's California Gurl costume that she wears at the beginning with all the sweets. But I'd just never sat myself down to do it, I took the easy way out and just ordered a costume in but recently I decided to go for it. I got a plain white corset from ebay and literally covered it in sparkly girly things. Katy Perry described the costume as if a unicorn had thrown up on it so I think more is deffo better! I'd previously gone on a mad spree of all the cute little polymer clay cabochon (look on etsy, you'll lose about 3 days!) so I had lots of cute little animals and bows and sweets which were great to add on. I cut fabric candy canes out and covered in glitter as well as buying some mulit coloured and pastel pearls as well as some diamantes I had lying around. Some of the images (unicorns, flumps, lollipops...) I just printed onto paper and glued on and put glue over the top to secure (and keep me safe if it rains!) but some were also printed onto fabric. They were all meant to be printed onto fabric but I was too impatient... I did make some 3D cupcakes and ice cream for the front but I thought a flat 3D version would be easier to wear seeing as I'll be clubbing in it! So that's the corset mostly done...

Just for the tutu now! I'll be making one of our own multi coloured love heart headbands to wear on my head as I just look like a complete idiot in the wig don't think a fringe suits me! But if it survives the night and is still in good condition I'm thinking of selling the corset, tutu and wig together in a set and may even sell the corset and tutu or complete set with wig from new if anyone is interested, I'm the test dummy so I'll see how it lasts on a night on in 'sunny' sheffield and go from there!

I'll post more up close photos soon once I've got around to finishing the tutu! xx